The House of Living Shadows
by xii-15carpileup
Summary: Hermione Granger and Taya Gregory had been friends since they were young children. With Taya transferring to Durmstrang Hermione doubts she will see her friend at all. That is until Dumbledore starts a program to strengthen the ties between the two school


**_The House of Living Shadows_**

_**Xii 15carpileup**_

_**Disclaimer: **While the little green men in my head sometimes tell me I own characters in Harry Potter and should therefore use them to dominate the world sadly I do not. All characters (besides Taya and those you do not recognize from the books) belong to J.K Rowling. All plot belongs to me._

_**A/N:** Hey guys! This is my first fanfic on this site … and well – ever. Hopefully the series will do great because I've got a lot of ideas and some feedback before the series is even started. Just as a heads up the first two or three chapters are gonna be kinda slow until the plot gets moving and I cant guarantee update schedules until I know about how long a chapter will end up taking me. You can email me at _ _or _ _or if you have AIM you can IM me at xii15carpileup. All feedback, criticism, story ideas are welcome and of course if you just want to talk that's awesome too. Also the story is going to be written Hermione POV for the most part because she is going to have the most going on initially (or as far as I've thought it through). Occasionally there will be chapters with different POVs for need to know reasons **hehehe** but I'm gonna play it by ear. Read On!_

**_Chapter 1 _**

_"Taya! Tay! TAYA! Wait up"_

"Hermione?! Is that you?"

You look up searching for the face of your best friend Taya Gregory when something seems to catapult itself onto your back. "Herms!" the flying object exclaims. Too excited at the prospect of seeing your friend you ignore the fact that she called you 'Herms' – your all time hated nickname. "Taya! Oh my gosh you look absolutely wonderful!" You look her up and down.

She seems to have grown about 10 inches since you've last seen her but really it's only about 4. She stands at about 5"5 and her frame seems to have evened out to hold her 105 lbs elegantly. Her hair frames her face nicely; coffee colored with lighter ends and her lips are fuller now and curled into a smile at seeing you. She looks gorgeous, much nicer than she had last year and if it had not been for her eyes you would not have recognized her at all. Her eyes had been her trademark ever since you had known her as a small child. Almond shaped; they had always looked like black diamond irises set into perfect crystal and they always were full of light and life, especially now they twinkled after not having seen you for months.

"Thanks!, but what about you?! You look stunning yourself"

It was true. Over the summer your figure had evened itself out making you loose your baby fat and developing curves in all the right places. You have grown 2 or 3 inches to stand at about 5"4 or 5"5 – level with Taya. Your once frizzy straw – like hair had bronzed to a lovely shade of auburn over the summer and seemed to have finally matured into wide curls that went to about halfway down your back and your eyes had stayed the same. The extraordinary hazel that they had always been.

You giggled hugging your friend again. "Looks like we've both changed Tay," you laughed pulling your trunk back upright. It seems that in her rush to find you Taya had knocked both of your trunks over. "Yea, I guess so" she smiled bending over to pick up hers as well. Her face was alive with light as it had always been but suddenly, without warning your lively friend's face seemed to cloud over with thought. It rarely ever happened and it usually meant something big. "Taya? What's wrong?" she looked at you alarmed. "Nothing Hermione," she replied blushing, "Its awful of me to worry so about things I cant control I just wish I was to be at Hogwarts this year instead of Durmstrang." She bent over to check the latches on her trunk, obviously hiding tears of distress. You couldn't believe that someone as outgoing as Taya was worried about a new school. "Miss. Gregory I do believe this is a first. Being afraid of a new school so, you'll make tons of friends, believe you me". "I know Hermione, it's just so awful that I have to leave you all. It wasn't supposed to be like this…". Your face shows obvious confusion. What choice did Taya have to go to Durmstrang? It's not her fault her parents had decided to switch her schools. Realizing she had said something wrong Taya fumbled for something else to say. "How about we go find Ron and Harry?" she asked her face brightening. You smiled as well and remember last year, your 6th.

"_**Taya, you are amazing and I would like for you to go with me to the Halloween Ball with me" Harry's face turned a slight shade of pink awaiting her answer. "Oh Harry! I would love to go with you"**_

_All the rest of the year her and Harry had been attached at the hip. 'I remember how crushed he was when she announced she was leaving'._

" _**You can't stay here?! What's wrong with here Taya?!" **_

"_**Look Harry it isn't my fault! It's my parents, I'm telling you the truth. I don't have a choice to go"**_

"_**You know Taya, I think you have all the choice in the world"**_

You didn't know if they had spoken since but you had served as a messenger for most of the summer and knew Harry hadn't ever stopped caring for her.

…_Taya didn't know it _

You didn't have much time to think about it though as the minute you awoke from your daydream Taya was pulling you off in the direction of a group of bright red heads bobbing in the crowd. "Mrs. Weasely!" Taya exclaimed drawing attention to both herself and you "Why Taya, my dear! And Hermione!" she bellowed pulling you both into a tremendous hug. She turned to Taya, "How are you doing? I trust your folks are well? George I said NO hexes in the station!" Taya beamed. She had always loved being in such a crowded family having been an only child her whole life. "Yes Mrs. Weasely they're doing splendidly. I assume you know I'm attending Durmstrang this year?" The plump woman nodded, "I do. Ronald told me all about it – moving and such. A terrible chore but the school is fitting. Too bad we wont have another girl to keep Harry and Ronald in line". At this you giggled, Mrs. Weasely would probably never know that Taya had caused most of the trouble the boys had gotten into. "Yeah Mrs. Weasely but Hermione here can handle 'em!" She winked at you.

Right on cue Harry and Ronald appeared beside Mrs. Weasely. "Taya! Hermione!" They both exclaimed hugging the two girls. "Haven't seen you in a bit mate, having fun preparing for your new school?". "Not a bit, the headmasters a prat and all the kids are rich little buggers like Malfoy. Dunno if I'll be able to stand it ". Harry smiled, "Yeah well I dunno if I could do a school full of Malfoys either". "Hey! Lay off him", you cut in. He didn't deserve to be made fun of before school even started even though he had never been very nice to you, …with the exception of last year. But you pushed that out of your mind.

"Alright, alright…" Harry sighed, "'Mione's right – we wont make fun of the right prat until we actually have a run in with him". Well, it was better than nothing.

Just then the whistle sounded from the platform ¾ - "We better get on the train. I expect to be made Head Girl and I doubt McGonagoll or Dumbledore would appreciate me being late". Ron rolled his eyes, "That's Hermione…" he mumbled. "You shut it. I'll meet you on the train" you retorted shortly and turned to Taya. "That's us mate, Ill write all the time" you promised and she said the same before you gathered for a hug.

Taya turned and as you watched her disappear into the crowd all you could remember were those eyes filled with tears. They hadn't seemed to be tears of separating but something more. You shook the feeling as you turned to Mrs. Weasely who was still behind you and hugged her goodbye. "Good luck Hermione" she whispered solemnly into your ear "Be brave, be strong, and you wont be alone". It seemed odd for words of parting for only a few months but you accepted it and boarded the train quickly finding your compartment almost filled.

Harry, Rob, Neville, Luna, and Ginny occupied the compartment leaving a spot open for you. You'd just taken your seat when the door slid open and two icy eyes glared into the compartment disapprovingly. "Dumbledore is looking for you…" the voice growled.


End file.
